In an exclusive end-of-year interview with People magazine, President Barack Obama spoke kindly of the Robertson family, the stars of the A&E show Duck Dynasty now under scrutiny after one of them made fiercely anti-gay comments.

“The Duck Dynasty family seems like a pretty fun bunch, so I can see how that would be pretty fun,” he said in an interview hitting newsstands on Friday.

The interview took place before Phil Robertson was indefinitely suspended by A&E for comparing homosexuality to bestiality and terrorism during his own interview with GQ.

Obama also ducked a question on whether he’d rather spend a day with the Robertson family or with Kanye West. Obama didn’t say, but did speak diplomatically about the rapper West, who he was once caught on tape deriding as a “jackass.”

“Kanye’s music is outstanding, though,” Obama said. “I’ve got a lot of his stuff on my iPad. If it was a concert, then I might not mind listening to him.”

Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama also discussed their daughter’s famous role models.

MRS OBAMA: They love Jay Z. They love Beyoncé. Sasha is still a One Direction fan, although I think Malia has become a little less into boy bands. But I don’t think they view these folks as role models. They’re not looking to them to define their character. I think they look to us for that still.

THE PRESIDENT: They’ve gotten to know Beyoncé, and she has always been very sweet to them. So they’re people that they think highly of. But I agree that if you’re talking about their values or career ideas, I think their mom has a little more influence over that than anybody else.